


How the Mighty Fall

by Cain_Dreemurr



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell, Chara and Asriel are siblings, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Medical Experimentation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-27
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-01-25 06:56:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12525596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cain_Dreemurr/pseuds/Cain_Dreemurr
Summary: Sad kids, family politics, and science. This is a story from Underfell Asriel's point of view on his life underground with the fallen child as they inch closer to a fall from grace.





	1. in which Asriel comes face to face with fate

The day the human fell Asriel was bored. Nothing could strike his fancy, and that was just the way it was. He couldn’t find solace in his books or projects, Asgore had other matters to attend to, so there were no lessons, and Toriel had shooed him outside with a mild scolding for being underfoot while she bustled about the house doing virtually nothing. Asriel was an antsy sort of bored, lonely and cranky, and angry at the world.

Nothing was going right, in fact his life had hit a dead end. None of his experiments were wielding any good outcomes, and that was pissing him off. The young prince loved experimenting with forms of poison, and ironically his second favorite research was on medicinal magic. Bad outcomes and failed hypothesis for these subjects though were painful. He had to use himself as a test subject, not that Asriel minded, but he was at risk of becoming ill. There were others, like the royal scientist, who would use random citizens for experimentation, but Asriel didn’t want to stoop to that level.

Along with the bullshit that came with his experiments, Asgore had been more forceful in the last few weeks when it had come to lessons. The king would sit there claiming that this was important information for ruling the underground and then just spout bias against humanity. If Asriel talked back it usually resulted in writing lines or a sharp slap on the back of the hand.  _ ‘Oh,’ _ Asgore would say, ‘ _ you had to be there to understand, humans are worse than you could ever believe.’ _ That was a drag to say the least. It wasn’t Asriel’s fault the other creatures were interesting, he wanted to understand them. 

Learning the laws of the land tended to be interesting at the very least. So thank goodness for that. Asriel learned more about the laws from the library though, Asgore was far more biased than the books and would tend to explain the laws protecting the king before those that would actually help Asriel in the future when he would inevitably take the throne. 

The worst part was his mother had been joking about Asriel killing his father again. Those types of jokes always made his skin crawl. He knew she just wanted to use him as a puppet while he took the throne and he hated it. While he was closer to his mother, there was no way Asriel could ignore the fact that she was using him. It was painful to admit at times, but that was just how things were. His family wasn’t exactly a model for great familial relationships. 

Maybe bored wasn’t the word for it, the right word for what Asriel was feeling was frustration. Or at least that was closer to it, he thought. Thinking about his family had increased the levels of anstiness, and usually that was a good indication of his anger and, in turn, his frustration.  

Nothing was going his way after all, and nothing could keep him interested. That and, though he would never admit it upset him, no one would give him the attention he craved. They were just in the mood to belittle him and push him around. Asriel Dreemurr was thoroughly frustrated. He kicked a rock almost to prove his emotions to himself, and watched it skip away from him. The small stone hit the stone edge of the cavern that served as the only world he had ever known and bounced back, nothing changed. The underground was stuffy, and that only added to his gloomy mood. 

Maybe there was something new in Asgore’s garden? That would be nice. Asriel veered left and ducked behind Dreemurr home. He closed the distance to the garden and moved through the flowers, thinking about ripping a rose off here, or a tulip there, but thought better of it. He knew that disturbing the king’s prized floral arrangements would result in harsh punishment if he was caught. Instead Asriel settled himself with just taking in the colors, of course there was nothing new. There was never anything new. And oh how he wished that weren’t the case. 

He finally sat down next to the bleeding hearts, finding nothing to take his mind off his mood. The bush half covered his body and did even more so as Asriel pulled his knees to his chest. A frustrated sob threatened to break free of his chest, but he refused to let it out. Asgore was always telling him to toughen up. A king had to be strong, a king had to be ready for anything, a king had to--  

That’s when there was a crash. Asriel scrambled to his feet to see what had happened. 

A loud crack, something was moving in a pile of rubble.

A whimper, Asriel held his breath.

When the dust in the air had settled, Asriel could see a small form push themself partially off the ground, arms straining, before letting themself fall again with a small “oof” and a wince. If he wasn’t mistaken that was a human, an enemy. Their hair was cut in a choppy ginger bob that covered their eyes but from where Asriel stood, shocked, he could see their teeth gritted in pain. He hated to admit it, but a swell of sympathy rose in his chest. They must have fallen pretty far, and the heir was curious as to how they survived.

“Don’t just stand there,” they said breathlessly towards the startled monster, breaking his line of thought. “help me up.”

“I’m not sure I should,” the prince replied, “I don’t know if I can trust you.” the human scoffed and tried again to push themselves up. 

Asriel watched them with curious eyes and was excited his lessons had paid off. he could tell they were a human just at a glance and prided himself on that. They had a skin! Which was fascinating, monsters barely had corporeal forms. Theirs was dotted with freckles and a pale peach underneath. The lighter, raised marks had to be scars, they seemed to have quite a few of those too.

Once they had pushed themself to sitting the human began running their hands over their arms and legs, pressing on lumps, and seeming to note pain levels. Asriel was sure they must be assessing internal damage, but wasn’t clear on how. He hadn’t been born when the monsters were sealed underground and Asgore wasn’t too open with information on his enemies. He was more interested in telling his son how to kill them.

“Hey,” the human said, again interrupting Asriel’s line of thought and the monster narrowed his eyes. “My ankle is sprained and I probably won’t be able to walk. Do you have bandages in there?” they gestured towards the house behind the two.

“Why should I let you inside my home?” the prince asked, thinking suddenly about Asgore and feeling sympathy for this helpless human. 

“I’m hurt, I need help.” that was true, but the king might--

“You’re a stranger, and an enemy.” 

They sighed, “you don’t know me, how can I be an enemy?” they had a point, but Asriel knew from experience that reason wouldn’t work on his majesty Asgore Dreemurr. The king was cruel and a stubborn asshole at best.

“I’ll get you bandages, the king might not take too kindly to you.” Asriel explained quickly and started to back away to go get what would be needed, again the human interrupted.

“Then take me to him, if he wouldn’t like me being here he should deal with me how he--”

“He’ll kill you!” Asriel choked out, before returning to his calm facade, sharply chastising himself for the outburst. A king must be composed. A king must be calm in the face of danger. A king must be--

They rolled their eyes, pushing to try to stand again, and again failing. This seemed to anger them, but the heir found himself wholly unable to read them so he could be wrong. The human instead resigned themself to quickly ran their fingers through their hair, clearing it of some of dust and rubble. The human seemed unaffected by Asriel’s outburst, and surprisingly unaffected by their fate.

“Take me to the king.” this time it was Asriel’s turn to sigh. If this was the way this human wanted to end their life, who was he to get in their way?

The prince began preparing himself for the coming disaster, stood a little taller,and spoke, “Alright.”

With that, he offered them his hand.


	2. In which Asriel has a panic attack

The Dreemurr house was larger than most underground and built from stones carved out of the wall of the cavern. The ceilings were high, the doors were imposing, and there were several large halls that would most likely hold lavish parties if Asgore cared for that sort of thing. Sadly he didn’t, so the family was isolated in this prison of a building. This was the house Asriel had grown up in, large and cold and empty. The house was devoid of any care, and that was true about the family that lived inside it as well.

The prince was leading the fallen child through this same house now. Well, more carrying them. No, more dragging them if he was fully honest. The two children’s shuffling, awkward steps echoed back and he hoped no one heard them prematurely. He knew the human most likely would not make it through the conversation and hoped they could at least make it to the throne room to see Asgore anyway. Asriel was anxious to get the conversation over with and to wash himself of the guilt of accidentally leading a kid of about his age, approximately, to their death.

“What can I expect of the king?” the human asked as they shuffled forward in an attempt at a step, their sprained ankle was throbbing with pain and putting too much weight on it was awful.

“You can expect him to attempt to kill you,” Asriel grumbled. He didn’t like this, not a bit.

“No, idiot, I mean more of appearance, I don’t wish to gawk at him.”

“Oh.” Did they just not care if they died? Did they realize the gravity of the situation? Did they not know the danger they were in?

The monster thought for a moment, how would he describe Asgore exactly? For someone who had never seen him or even really heard of him no less. The king was tall, that was sure, and had angry red eyes. Frankly, Asgore looked like some human depictions of their devil. That was fitting and Asriel always liked thinking of the fact. He wondered often which came first, Asgore or the humans’ idea that goats were demonic.

His shoulders and face were marred with scars from the war with humanity. That was always a shock for new people to see as monsters did not often scar, but the human had scars so maybe that wouldn’t be a shock? Asgore was simply a war beaten, imposing monster, what was there to say, how could he describe it? He could just say Asgore looked like an asshole and be done with it.

“He’s my father,” Asriel said instead, “he looks a bit like me.” the human seemed satisfied with this answer and nodded, they didn’t ask any more questions on the short walk from where the two were to the throne room.

Asriel knocked once, and then pushed open one of the large double doors. He grimaced as he noticed the royal scientist leaving through the secondary doorway. He swallowed his bile and fought the urge to stare the bastard down and instead looked up towards Asgore’s throne.

The king was watching the two intently, eyes narrowed with an unreadable expression. The prince’s heart felt as though it was in his throat and he swallowed again trying to feel a bit better. He then moved to drag the other child forward a bit.

He took a deep breath before speaking, “Father? A human fell into our back garden.”

The king regarded the two silently and Asriel’s panic grew, what if he killed his son as well? It would set the king back for having the perfect heir, but then again Asriel was never the perfect heir anyway. What was Asgore thinking? Was he going to kill the human? Asriel opened his mouth to speak and make excuses but was cut off by the clear steady voice of the human leaning heavily on him.

“It is with the greatest pleasure I stand before you your majesty, I am Chara. I am injured from my fall, might I please get some help?” the fearlessness of this human, Chara, was to be respected.  

Asgore’s strong, harsh voice replied without a moment of silence and Asriel winced. He had hoped the king hadn’t heard. “You dare wish for my family’s help after your people locked mine underground. Do you know how disrespectful you are?”

“Yes sir, but please find mercy? I hold no contempt for your people and was not involved directly. I understand I will most likely be trapped here with you, I could likely help out in the house to pay you back for generosity.” Here Asgore stroked his beard as though in thought, and seemed to look at Chara with a more hungry expression.

“I would oversee them if you need?” Asriel said with his voice trailing up in a question, or was it fear? He hoped it was read as questioning tone either way.

“Very well, but I need to be sure you are not a spy.”

“Thank you your majesty, I assure you I am not. After all I can not escape.” they had a point Asriel thought, how could they be a spy?

“Alright, may I ask how old you are?” Asgore’s tone had softened and that made Asriel anxious, this was an unknown reaction from the king.

“I am fifteen, your majesty, turning sixteen in little more than a few weeks.” Then they were older, Asriel’s face displayed his upset for a moment before he managed to replace it with a stoic indifference.  

“You’re the same age as my son here, incredible to see the differences in our species.” Asgore relaxed back in his throne before asking the next question, “Do you have a family that would look for you?”

“No sir, I don’t believe I do.” _N_ _ ow what the hell did that mean?  _ Asriel found himself thinking.

“Alright,” the king said. “Then you will live with us as our second child, does this sound alright to you? I understand our home is smaller than palaces of the surface, but I do hope it suffices. You would have the title of prince if this would suit you, any royal child is a prince here, but if you wanted the human title of princess--”

“Prince would do, thank you your majesty.” Asriel found himself frozen in shock beside this human, he had been sure that they would die? What the hell was this? Chara was a prince? They were older. Were they the heir? Would they take his throne? His mind was racing and he couldn’t quiet his thoughts. What happened to the idea of killing humans on sight?

“Does this suit you, Chara?” the king asked in an even, almost kind tone.

“Yes sir, thank you sir.”

“Alright, good. You may call me your father, Asgore Dreemurr, and you may take our name if you would like. Welcome to the family.” This couldn’t be happening. They couldn’t be part of the family. What would Asriel’s mother say? Would she be okay with this? Would she show them the same obvious favor that Asgore offered up on a silver platter? Did Chara even care about all of this?

“F...Father?” Asriel’s voice cracked and he chastised himself. “Are you sure this is a good idea?” he really hoped his tone was even.

“Why wouldn’t it be, Asriel?” Asgore’s eyes narrowed in challenge, as though daring his son to step out of line.

“No reason, I just wish to know your thoughts behind this if possible.”

“As the heir to the throne you do deserve to know, bring your sibling to your mother to get bandaged up and then come right back here. We need to have a talk.”  _ fuck _ , Asriel thought,  _ I’m doomed. _

“Yes Father.” Asriel tugged the kid at his side, his  _ sibling.  _ “Come on Chara, let’s go take you to meet mom.”

“Alright, pleasure to meet you, I look forward to seeing you soon, Father.” They didn’t seem at all phased by any of this, did they not care they had ruined Asriel’s life?

This didn’t make sense! There was no reason for him to warm up to this human so quickly! Asgore had never been kind, had never been one to show mercy. He was harsh and cruel and cutting. What was special about them? The king never showed Asriel kindness, what did he see in Chara? Why them?

Asriel knew he was pulling Chara roughly, but he couldn’t calm down. He was sure he was shaking, he was furious. This didn’t make sense, what was Asgore planning? What was Asgore going to do? What role would Chara play? What use did they serve? Why did Asgore need them? Asgore was never nice without meaning, what did he want from this other child? Was this a punishment? Were they taking Asriel’s place?

“I wasn’t expecting this,” Chara said softly and Asriel felt his eyes narrow.

“No, I wasn’t either.”

“I know.” Their tone was far calmer than earlier, more relaxed maybe. Asriel’s heart sank just a little lower, were they pitying him? Fuck them. He elected to ignore them for the rest of the way, pulling them along just as roughly.

The two found Toriel in the library. Towering over them in sweeping skirts and glittering jewels, she was a sight to behold as Asriel quickly explained what was going on. His mother had looked terrified as first glance, but quickly grew more and more haughty in expression as the story went on. Her composure was always to be respected, once she had regained it she looked completely above everything.

Toriel’s above it all attitude reminded Asriel of Chara’s behavior and he feared them gaining his mother’s love as well as Asgore’s favor. He feared them gaining his spot in the family. Would they be the favorite child? Since they were now his sibling. Fuck, they could be the favorite. He was never good at behaving, if Chara was a better child… he didn’t want to think of what might happen to a defective heir.

The introductions seemed to go smoothly, or so Asriel thought, and that didn’t ease the knot of worry in the prince’s stomach. Said knot only seemed to grow when Asriel remembered the king and the lecture he was bound to receive for mouthing off. So he bid the two farewell and took off back to the throne room.

His steps echoed again in the hall, but now alone they took on a sharper sound. One that seemed to bore into Asriel’s skull and only made his heart beat faster. He made it all the way to the hall before the throne room before cracking and crying.

To avoid being seen he ducked behind a pillar and buried his face in his palms. The sound of his sobs were muffled in fur and he bit down on his palms to try to regain what little composure he could. If he went in to face the king like this he would likely not just walk away with a lecture. The king would probably ‘give him reason to cry’.

Asriel tried sucking in deep breaths and held his shoulders in a sad attempt to stop the shaking. With a soft flump he allowed himself to sink to the floor, knowing he only had a few minutes to calm down and go to face Asgore. Sure enough though the cool stone of the floor helped the young prince ground himself and he soon found himself able to breathe again as the sobs subsided. Good enough.

He stood again, stumbled slightly, and wiped away his tears. Then, on shaking legs, he moved forward. Time to speak to his father. Time to learn what he had done wrong.

Time to learn his lesson for the day.


	3. Chapter 3

Chara had found themself alone with the queen of monsters as Asriel broke down in the hall. If they were being fully honest with themself they had never heard of monsters outside the usual “monster under the bed” stories children seemed to believe. So this species was real? At this point monsters had faded into obscurity, they were a long forgotten people. Long forgotten or just erased from history though? The child wondered this seriously, after all history was always written by the winners.

They thought instead of the prince, Asriel, and felt sympathy for his plight. They knew very well what having “a talk” meant. They just hoped that he would not be harmed on their behalf, they hadn’t meant to endanger him. They gave a small sigh, It seems abusive parents aren’t limited to the surface world. They surveyed their surroundings once again.

The room they were in was a library, that was clear from the hundreds of books lining the walls in ornate shelving. There seemed to be a few chairs in the room too, these chairs did seem very comfortable. Chara made note first that they would like to sit and look at what books the room had to offer. They then made note that there were no windows or escape routes save for the door behind the queen, Toriel.

The queen herself had changed expressions at Asriel’s departure, she was cold now as she looked them down. She seemed to be judging their appearance, perhaps taking note of their injuries. They felt their heart skip a beat as they wondered whether they had been tricked. Had Asgore been mocking them? Was this their executioner?

Toriel’s voice broke through their spiral of increasingly morbid thoughts. “Are you able to walk on your own?”

“No, ma’am,” Chara replied, hoping that this reply wouldn’t anger the queen.

“Fine,” the queen replied and scooped Chara up in her arms roughly to pull them into another room.

The fallen child felt another rush of fear as Toriel carried them into a room that must have been a bathroom. The walk from the library was very short, but that didn’t mean their heart wasn’t in their throat the entire time, would Toriel kill them? The sight of the bathroom did calm their nerves a small bit, who would cause that much a mess in such a lovely room? And since Chara hadn’t seen any servants the queen probably did cleaning herself. If she had taken Chara outside they would have been far more worried.

Toriel set Chara down on the edge of a large stone tub and began to run some water. The fallen child made note that this society had some form of plumbing, at least that was good. The gentle steam of this water wafted through the air and the child sat as straight as they could so they would look good for, apparently, their new mother.

“Excuse me, ma'am,” They cursed themself for what felt like the billionth time that day for not memorizing the titles of nobles in school, “May I ask what occurred that resulted in your entrapment?”

“You got rid of us because you were afraid of our power to use your souls. You hunted us down, you pushed us to the edge of society, killed hundreds, if not thousands of us, and then drove us underground to lock us there.”

“Oh,” Chara started, but Toriel cut them off with a dark, cruel expression.

“Do you know what that felt like? Not knowing who in your family was still alive? Not knowing when you would see the sun again? My child Asriel has never seen the sky in full, he has never seen stars, because you decided to push us into this hell.” the child worried that Toriel would still kill them despite the two of them being inside. The queen’s claws dug into Chara’s shoulders and the child worried that she would just lash out.

Chara was quiet for a moment, letting themself think of the best answer, and then spoke cautiously. “Humans really are cruel and cowardly, are they not?”

Toriel seemed to appreciate their reply and gave a curt nod. She withdrew her hands and moved towards a large cabinet. From it she withdrew a box, inside seemed to be several lengths of bandages. Chara breathed a soft sigh of relief, why make someone feel well before killing them?

“What hurts the worst, my child?” the last words were spat out and Toriel moved back to the child in question. Obviously the queen would have to become used to the human’s presence.

“My ankle is sprained, if you let me be I could dress my own wounds?” it probably wouldn’t work but it was worth a shot.

Toriel put on an artificial smile before replying. “No darling, I will help.” again she sounded more cruel and cutting than the words would imply and the child wondered why this was the parent Asriel seemed to care for more.

Well, they reasoned, she was likely kinder to her own son than to the stranger she was now forced to adopt. However, if she was this cruel a woman Chara would probably not have an ally within the family. Possibly their sibling, Asriel, but that was only if he was able to see through the way Asgore was obviously trying to pit the children against each other. They had been through this song and dance routine before. They were less afraid now than before, the worst they anticipated underground was just death.Things could be much worse.

They winced as the queen began to roughly dress their wounds and were thrown off their train of thought. Flinching at the touch they pulled back a moment before forcing themself to relax, they needed to as much as they hated the new woman touching them.

They thought again about their new sibling and briefly worried for his safety. Hopefully he wouldn’t be hurt for bringing them home. After all, Chara had pushed him to bring them to the king. They hoped he would get off with just a lecture, or that maybe things were different underground with these monsters, and maybe “having a talk” wasn’t so bad. They weren’t optimistic though, they rarely were.

The air hung thick with silence as the queen ceased making conversation on their species. Chara’s thoughts crept toward their day before their fall. Their trek up the mountain and the joy of falling. How they had felt as they realized they were still alive, despite it all. They didn’t care for their thoughts and chose to speak once again.

“May I call you mother? The king has requested I call him my father,” They hoped this would help a little, but knew in their heart they were most likely, in the best of terms, fucked.

“Do as you will,” the queen replied, she looked less than amused. Toriel finished dressing Chara’s wounds and lifted them harshly again. “I’ll show you where your bedroom will be. We have an empty one near my son’s.”

“I could stand myself now, ma’am, if you’d wish?” they hoped the queen would let them stand on their own, Chara didn’t like having to rely on a woman who seemed to hate them.

“This way I can be rid of you faster.”

The two moved quickly along, back past the library towards two doors at the end of the hall. Chara liked seeing that they would be living beside the library, and made sure to note that. They would probably spend many sleepless nights there. They took comfort in the thought and began to make a plan to check out the library as soon as the household quieted down for the night.

“The left is yours, the right is Asriel’s, do not bother my son. He would not like it, and in turn I would never forgive you for interrupting his studies.”

“Yes Ma’am,” they could do this, they knew how to deal with bad parents. “Thank you, Ma’am.”

With that the queen swung open the door and half tossed the human child onto the bed. They lay, defeated, on the red and grey quilt waiting to be left alone. They almost seemed to hold their breath, hoping they wouldn’t be killed here. No, the queen had already had a thousand opportunities, they would be safe right? Once the queen was sure she was going to be rid of the human child she gave them one last cruel sneer and stepped out of the room shutting the door behind her with a dull thud. She had finally left Chara alone.

They took a moment and looked around the room at the drab stone walls that matched everything else and took in the large tapestry of what they assumed to be the family crest. Two large wings spreading outward from a crowned circle. The red of the tapestry was the only color in the room outside of the white and grey of the stone and the brown of the wooden furniture.

Almost immediately upon deciding Toriel was far enough from the door that they would not be heard, the child began searching through the room. There were no windows and just the one door. The dresser seemed heavy enough to stop others from coming in if they needed, so that was good at the least. They peeked in the drawers, nothing, so the queen, or possibly Asriel, would be by at some point with clothes. Or so they hoped.

Once they gave the room a few looks over they stumbled back to the bed and lay back, resting for now. They knew someone would probably come by so they just settled back, not letting their guard down enough to sleep yet, but allowing themself a quick moment. Without much warning their eyes welled with tears, but they did not let them fall. They would not cry here, not if they could help it.

_Well,_ they thought bitterly as they stared up at the expanse of ceiling, _my wish has come true. I’m far from home. No one I know can find me._ They turned on their side, facing away from the door and couldn’t stop one tear from escaping.

If only they knew they were safe.

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys, this is my first fanfiction in a super long time (we're talking ff.net long ago) and I'm just hoping to do the underfell au some justice by showing my take of the dreemurr family disaster. I am planing on doing as much world building as I can and am always open to constructive criticism here, or on my tumblr for this au underfell-dreemurrs!


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